Responsible Forest Products Purchasing Policy
Immediate Media Company (“Immediate”) is committed to the responsible purchasing of forest products and our long-term intention is to source all forest products that we purchase from well-managed forests which have been certified to credible certification standards.
This commitment will be realised through a step-by-step approach to responsible purchasing which utilises the best available techniques and information.
Immediate will not source forest products from:
- Forests or forest product suppliers that do not comply with all relevant national and international legislation relating to the trade in forest products;
- High Conservation Value Forests where these are recognised nationally or regionally, unless these forests are progressing towards credible forest certification in a time-bound, step-by-step and transparent manner;
- Protected areas, parks or similar areas where harvesting operations are not complementary to responsible forest management;
- Forests which are currently being converted to other land uses, or forests that have been converted since 1994; or
- Forests which are in areas of armed conflict or civil unrest where there is a direct relationship between the forest products trade and the funding of such conflicts.
To ensure that these goals are achieved Immediate will:
- Scrutinise all suppliers of forest products purchased by the business;
- Seek information as to the source of all forest products;
- Evaluate this information against our stated policy;
- Continuously review the level of compliance against these policies, with annual reviews, reports and actions agreed with our suppliers;
- Work with and encourage suppliers and forest sources who are actively engaged in a process of time bound, transparent, step-by-step commitment to credible certification (such as WWF Producer Group members); and
- Work with key stakeholders to ensure that best practice is followed.
Immediate will abide by all local, state and national laws and international conventions (including but not limited to the (Illegal) Timber Regulations EU No 995/2010, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), World Heritage Convention (WHC), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)), moratoria on logging, declarations of protected areas, forestry laws, environmental protection legislation, and labour and social laws.
Immediate will never knowingly become involved in, collude with or purchase timber from illegal logging operations. We will work with our supply chain to ensure that all forest products originate from forests where there is full legal and verifiable title to the land, and the harvester has all relevant and current permits and approvals; ensuring products are extracted with full authorisation of those holding rights to the land or forest resources, and with the required authorisation, permits and approvals from all relevant government agencies.
August 2015